A grammar of the Homeric dialect - Wilbourhall.org

84.]
VERBAL NOUNS. 73
The so-called 'JEolic'Opt. of Contracted Verbs (-(prj-v,-onj-v)
appears in i\otrj (Od. 4. 692) and Qopoir] (Od. 9. 320).
In II. 14. 241 most authorities give eirurxoujs as an Opt. (rS> feev ciriax ^] 5
Xtirapovs -noSas tikanivafav. Three of the chief MSS. (A. B. C.) have emcrxoics,
and this was quoted by Herodian, apparently as the only reading known to
him (see Ludwich, A.H.T. i. 374). The Syr. palimpsest has Imcrxoias. All
three forms are anomalous ; fmaxoiijs finds a parallel in dyayoirjv (Sappho)
and one or two other forms, but can hardly be Homeric.
The forms crows (II. 9. 681), crow (II. 9. 424) are so written by modern
editors. Most MSS. have O-OTJS, cr6r|.
In the former place we learn that Ar.
doubted between craws and crows (or creeps, for the accent here is conjectural).
The ancient grammarians apparently took both forms as Opt. (which suits
the sense, 304, a).
Some wrote craws, craw (or crows, crow), deriving them
directly from craow : others crows, crow, from crww or crow. It is not difficult to
restore the uncontracted craoois, craooi, or, if the Subj. is preferred, craoTjs,
craoTj (so Nauck).
For the 3 Plur. in -oi-v Bekker finds one instance of -ot-v, viz. in Od. 20.
382, where the common text has
TOVS fivovs kv VTJI iro\vK\.r]i8i @a\6vTfs
fs 2iKc\ovs ireftif/ufifv
oOw Kt rot aiov a\(j>oi,
for which he would read a\c|>oiv. The I Sing, in -oi-v (instead
anomalous -ou-jxt)
was not unknown in Attic (Bekker, H. B. p. 1 1 1 if) *.
of the
irapa-c{>0a-iTr)-cri (II. 10. 346), with Primary instead of Secondary Ending, is
perhaps a pseudo-archaic form, made on the analogy of the Subjunctives in
The
Verbal Nouns.
84.] Infinitives and Participles are not properly speaking
Verbs since they do not contain a Subject and Predicate but
Nouns : the Infinitive is a kind of Substantive and the Participle
an Adjective. In certain respects however they belong
4
to the scheme of the Verb :
1.
They answer in form and meaning to the Tense Stems;
each Tense Stem has in general an Infinitive and a Participle
formed from it.
2.
They are distinguished as Active and Middle (or Passive)
in sense.
3. They are construed with the same oblique cases of Nouns;
and the same Adverbs and Adverbial phrases, as the corresponding
Verbs.
* It must not be supposed, however, that the i Sing, and the 3 Plur. in
-otv are primitive forms. The termination -ow was originally impossible in
Greek (as -em and -om are in Sanscrit) ;
we should expect -otcf, -oiav (Sanscr.
-eyam, -eyus). Hence -OI-JJLV probably made its way into Greek in place of
*-oia, as -crai-p,i in the Aor. in place of -cmS (see Brugmann, in Curt. Stud. ix.
313). The 3 Plur. form diroTtvotdv is found in the Eleian dialect.